A new Adelaide University research program will focus on developing targeted therapies for chronic visceral pain, a primary symptom associated with irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, and endometriosis, according to an Aug. 7 announcement.
The five-year initiative is funded by a National Health and Medical Research Council Investigator Grant awarded to Professor Stuart Brierley. Brierley is the Director of the Visceral Pain Research Group, Director of the Hopwood Centre for Neurobiology, Co-Theme Leader of Lifelong Health at SAHMRI, and Professor at Adelaide University's College of Health. The project will examine how hypersensitive nerve pathways contribute to pain originating from internal organs and test new therapies designed to interrupt these signals before they reach the brain and spinal cord.
The research effort brings together international researchers, industry partners, and individuals with lived experience of chronic visceral pain to accelerate development of new treatment options. Chronic visceral pain affects one in five Australians and remains among the most poorly understood forms of chronic pain.
Brierley said people living with this condition are seeking more effective treatments that move beyond temporary solutions. The program will use clinically validated models alongside patient-derived laboratory models to better understand biological mechanisms responsible for persistent pain and identify potential therapeutic targets.
Researchers plan to investigate several novel approaches, such as venom-derived peptides and engineered proteins that selectively target pathways involved in transmitting pain signals. This work builds on over a decade of research by Brierley’s team into how gut-brain communication contributes to chronic visceral pain.
"Chronic visceral pain can have a profound impact on people's quality of life, affecting their physical health, mental wellbeing and ability to participate fully in everyday activities," Brierley said. "We’ve done a lot of the groundwork in recent years laying the foundation to now take this next step, which we hope will eventually result in lasting relief and better quality of life for people all over the world.”
